A Single Heart
by Bringer-of-Oblivion
Summary: "Time heals all wounds."--Or does it? When a heart is broken, it often heals, but within lies the seeds of greater darkness... MAJOR SPOILER ALERT! Reviews and criticism are appreciated, but flames will be... Well, you don't want to know.


Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, or any characters connected with it, except in the case of characters that are noted in the beginning, middle, or end of a chapter. Anyways, I would never *wink* think of plagiarizing any of the works of Squaresoft. That said; let's get on with the story:  
  
A Single Heart By: Caller_In_Darkness  
  
~Prologue: Memories of the Future  
  
Ahead of Sora, stretching into infinity, lay the realm of darkness- Kingdom Hearts. Looking around wildly, he sees nothing-only inky blackness. Ahead of him, a blurry figure stepped from behind a bank of shadow. Standing about six feet tall, the apparition seemed to be wearing some sort of armor. Muted golden radiance poured from within the gaps in its armor. Looking inward, Sora also noticed the same glow form within his chest-his heart. Pausing slightly, the radiant being glanced about, as if looking for something.  
  
Behind the figure, a blot of darkness parted from the perpetual gloom, arrowing towards the only light in the void that was the birthplace of all hearts. Sora tried to warn the darkness' unsuspecting victim, but his shouts were devoured as voraciously as anything else.  
  
As the darkness neared its prey, yellow eyes materialized, closely followed by gangly limbs and long, wicked claws. They made a shuffling noise as the rest of the darkness condensed into legs and cruelly pointed talons. When the sound of living shadow reached the young Keyblade Master's ears, he swung around swiftly, knowing full well what was causing the noise.  
  
His eyes fell upon a boiling mass of darkness, perhaps spanning the entire horizon. At some unseen signal, millions upon millions of Heartless rushed forward, hungering for the small eye at the center of this swirling maelstrom of shadow. Terrified, Sora took flight, the lessened gravity putting an unwanted and unneeded spring in his step. He sprinted towards the being, which was now staring directly at the mass of night that was floating to the front of it. Sora ran and ran, knowing in his heart that he could not survive in the middle of the hoard of Heartless, and that not even the Keyblade could help him now. He was slowing now, exhausted from the combination of sprinting and the weird substance that passed for air around here. They noticed his deceleration, and sped up, their instincts telling them that their hunger-or at least part of it-would soon be sated.  
  
Looking back at the hoard rushing at him, Sora didn't notice the forms rising from the deep pools of bruise-purple/black shade. One particular claw caught his foot, and he went down like a Fat Body hit with Graviga. Frantically scrabbling to his feet, Sora knew he was as good as dead. Turning around, he stood erect, reasoning that he might be able to stop at least a few, he held his arms out in a strange parody of an embrace, waiting. The distance between him and the tide of darkness closed; twenty feet.twelve feet.seven feet.he closed his eyes, waiting for the end.two feet, then nothing.  
  
Rather than the piercing sensation of the Heartless claiming his life- force, he felt a cool sensation, rather like fog, flowing across his legs. Sora opened his eyes, surprised. The Heartless were going through him. He barely had time to comprehend his apparent immunity to Heartless before a blinding blast of luminescence blinded him. It might have been the afterimages, but Sora swore that the shadow had taken humanoid form. It held an extension of darkness in its hand that soon resolved into something Sora knew well-Ultima Weapon. It was Ultima, and Sora knew it, but something was different about it.It seemed dark; not evil, but dark, the absolute opposite of what the other figure held in it's hands-Another Ultima Weapon.  
  
Sora looked about him, and noticed the Heartless had stopped. At closer inspection, he made out that the Heartless weren't even there; all that was left was a strange shell. A flash brought his attention back to the two figures standing at opposite ends of what now was a smoking crater in the darkness. They stood there, like two reflections from a common mirror. Simultaneously glancing at each other for a moment, they passed an invisible and incomprehensible message between them. With mutual agility and speed, they charged at each other, blades raised high. They met, two blades fell, and.everything went black. 


End file.
